Holiday Planning Tips for ADHD Moms | ADHD-Friendly Holiday Prep
The holidays can be magical for moms.
But there are also times when they feel like a marathon of decisions, schedules, and sensory overload. Especially for us ADHD moms trying to juggle all the things.
It doesn’t help that our normal, non-holiday life still demands our time, attention, and energy while we’re adding in all the magic.
So before you burn yourself out trying to do all the things and make all the perfect memories, let’s discuss strategies to help your ADHD brain stay on top of what needs to be done so you can actually enjoy the holiday season with your family and friends.
ADHD and Holiday Planning
For years my holiday planning consisted of flying by the seat of my pants. In fact, I used to brag about doing all my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve (which I do NOT recommend, FYI).
But my lack of forethought and planning led to numerous expedited costs shipping for last minute gifts, missing out because I waited too long and the gift or event I wanted was sold out, and far too many gatherings where I haven’t slept or showered because I waited too long to clean or start preparing food.
And while I can’t say I nail my prep every holiday season, I definitely have some core strategies that help me reduce anxiety levels, get done what needs to be done, and stay present to enjoy time with my family.
In addition to the strategies I’m giving you today, I’ve created a free holiday checklist printable you can use as a start point for your holiday planning.
I’ve kept it super broad and simple because I know that everyone has different priorities during the holiday season. But I think it can be a great way to remind yourself of what needs done broadly, then you can add your specifics as needed.
You can pick up your free holiday checklist printable by clicking here.
And with that, let’s dive into some strategies to help you plan and stay on top of the chaos this holiday season…
ADHD Holiday Planning: Find Your Anchors
Anchors are those non-negotiable tasks that you need to continue to do on a regular basis when your schedule gets busy.
There are only so many hours in the day and when we start adding holiday events, the availability of those hours starts to dwindle. Which is why it is important to take some time before the craziness descends to decide which priorities you must continue to do to keep your business, home, family, and self humming along. And which things you may be able to pause or delegate when life gets busy.
For instance, if you have a product based business, keeping up with inventory, shipping, and marketing might be a non-negotiable you must make time for to keep your business running. But perhaps you could delegate daily inventory counts or shipping to a member of your team. Or maybe you hire out or scale back marketing efforts to the places where you actually see an ROI.
For your home and family, a non-negotiable may be spending an hour a week reviewing your bank account and paying bills so you don’t have surprises when January rolls around. Or deciding which holiday events around town are must-do’s and which ones would be nice if you have the time and energy.
Each family and business will be unique in determining what they deem non-negotiable. And there is no right or wrong to what you choose is a priority. What is the same for us all is blocking specific time for these non-negotiable tasks, projects, or events so we don’t scramble to fit everything in or forget important tasks and events that could cause us issues later.
I also highly recommend setting aside some time each week for a “reset” block so you know you’ve got a bit of catch up time in case you overschedule yourself and run out of time to work on your non-negotiables.
And after you’ve created your list of non-negotiable tasks to keep your home and business life moving during the holidays, I recommend…
ADHD Holiday Planning: Simplify and Prioritize Your Lists
I would venture to guess that you’ve got all kinds of lists cluttering up your desk, kitchen table, or phone when it comes to all things holiday related…Gifts to buy, events to schedule, and traditions to maintain, just to name a few.
And chances are you may not have the bandwidth or bank account to do every little thing your ADHD heart desires when it comes to the holiday season. Which is why it is important to prioritize and simplify our lists so we don’t over do it.
When I was a professional organizer, a phrase I repeated over and over was “If everything is a 10, then nothing is a 10.” Meaning if everything on your list has equal importance, then you devalue the items or commitments that you truly do value.
This is why I recommend breaking your lists down into “must do” and “would like to do”, rather than giving every event you’d like to attend or gift you’d like to buy equal weight, especially if you don’t have the time or money to do it all.
If you’re struggling to decide what’s a “must do” and a “would like to do”, simplifying the choices you have can help you avoid decision fatigue and analysis paralysis.
You can help your ADHD decision making process by setting limits on the number of options you research when looking for a bike for your kids or options for holidays concerts to attend.
Or by delegating decisions on what to buy for teacher gifts or what to bring to Thanksgiving dinner to another family member.
And decisions become so much easier if we can find it in ourselves to ditch perfectionism and our quest to create the perfect holiday.
Which as a recovering perfectionist, I realize is easier said than done. But keep trying. 😀
And before we wrap up our section on simplifying and prioritizing, I want to talk briefly about creating a range of expectations and what a positive outcome looks like.
This can be a helpful exercise for us to practice find ways to enjoy our efforts, even if they don’t end up as perfectly as we originally envisioned them.
Rather than thinking it’s either exactly like this or you’ll be disappointed, think that as the best version of a gift, event, or tradition.
Then, if you scale it back a bit from the best version to a better version, you can still give the gift, attend the event, or participate in the tradition, just is a slightly scaled back manner.
And the good version is the bare minimum version of what you consider “done” when it comes to this gift, event, or tradition.
Because in the end, is it more important that you do it, or that you do it exactly as you pictured it or not at all.
So when you look at your lists of holiday to-dos and to-buys, prioritize what is a must do and a would like to do, simplify your choices to help reduce decision fatigue and analysis paralysis, and reduce the pressure to be perfect by creating a range of positive outcomes when it comes to the gifts you’re giving, the commitments you’re making, and the traditions you’re upholding.
And as your calendar and gift hiding nook starts to fill up, it is important to…
ADHD Holiday Planning: Prepare for Overstimulation
If you’ve ever experienced feelings of stress or anxiety when there is a lot going on around you, you’ve probably experienced what is known as overstimulation.
Things like bright or flashing lights, strong smells, loud music, itchy sweaters, and crowds are all sensory inputs can trigger feelings of overstimulation.
Because when our brains struggle to process a plethora of information all at once, it makes it more difficult to focus than normal.
For a deeper dive into overstimulation triggers and how to protect your energy and stress levels, check out my post on overstimulation and the holidays by clicking here.
But here is a quick, Clif Notes version (dating myself with that reference 😜):
Know Your Limits
Stay aware of your energy levels. You will most likely not have energy for everything you want and need to do during this holiday season. Which makes it important to ask what you DO have energy for after your non-negotiables.
Set Boundaries
One of the reasons we started with identifying your non-negotiable commitments for the season is so that we can protect them. They are non-negotiable because they are important. Which is why we need to set boundaries to protect these activities and events.
Make Time for Self-Care
It’s important for you to make self care a priority any time of year but especially during the busy holiday season when you may get tapped out easier because your energy is spread thinner than usual. Making time for self-care will also help you recover if you’re feeling overstimulated before you head into the next round of stimulating activities and events.
So there you have it. My suggestions to help you prep your time and energy for the upcoming holiday season…Find your anchors or non-negotiables, simply and prioritize your lists, and prepare for overstimulation.
Don’t forget to grab your free holiday checklist to use as a jumping off point to make sure you dotted all your I’s and crossed all your T’s when it comes to the holidays and your family. Click here to pick up your free holiday planning checklist printable.
And if you still feel like juggling all the things during the holidays may be a bit too much to tackle on your own, I’d love to help! Click the button below to schedule your free, no-obligation call with me to discuss your plans and goals for your self, your family and your business during the holiday season and beyond.
